Seal.



PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

A.IB. SOHOFIELD.

SEAL, APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23' 1900.

N0 MODEL.

fic ineawasi NrrED STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT FFICE.

ALBERT B. SCHOFIELD, OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE.ASSIGNB'IENTS, TO KEYSTONE SFAL AND PRESS COMPANY, A CORPO- RATION OFNElV JERSEY.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,199, dated August2, 1904.

Application filed March 28, 1900. Serial No. 10,484. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT B. Sonorrnm), a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Seal, of which the following isaspecitication.

My invention relates to seals, and more particularl y to what are knownin the art as lead seals, in which a wire bail has its ends embedded ina disk of soft metal.

The object of my present invention is to provide a seal of thischaracter in which the embedded ends of the wire of hooked form shalllie in the same plane through the middle portion of the disk, therebypreventing the crossing of the wires within the soft-metal disk and theconsequent cutting of the soft metal through toward the face of the diskor the distortion of the impression on the face of the disk.

A further object is to provide a slot for the reception of the free endof the bail, which may be made as broad at its outer end as at any pointthroughout its length and narrower than the normal width of the hookedend of the wire, thereby doing away with the necessity of casting thedisk with a slot or socket having internal shoulders.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an enlarged view of thedisk, in central section through its edges, showing the position of theparts before the free end of the bail is inserted into the slot. Fig. 2is a similar view showing the free end of the bail inserted in the slot.Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the seal on the line 3 3 of Fig.2, and Fig. l is a horizontal section through the seal on the line at atof Fig. 2.

The hooked ends of the bail when in position to receive the press restin the same plane along the middle portion of the disk, as clearly shownin 3 and 4, so that when the disk is placed under the action of thepress the walls of the disk on the opposite sides of the plane in whichthe hooked ends of the bail rest may be thinned to a much greater extentand yet leave a sutlieient covering of lead on the opposite sides of theembedded wire than where the said embedded elnds of the wire cross oneanother within the c isk.

The disk is denoted by A, and the slot for the reception of the free endof the bail by a. The width of the slot (1 is less throughout its entirelength than the maximum width of the hooked end of the bail B, so thatwhen the hooked end is inserted into the slot into the position shown inFig. 2. it will compress the hook I), and it will be locked in itsposition by the pressure of its free end against the wall of theslot (1,which will tend to embed itself in the wall, as at (1, Fig. 2, whenstrain is brought to bear tending to withdraw it from the slot.

In speaking of the slot (1 as of less width than the maximum width ofthe hook b at all points throughout its length I refer to that part ofits length along which the free end of the hook travels during themovement of the bight of the hook toward the bottom of the slot and usethis term to distinguish it from a slot which is shouldered at a pointinwardly from its mouth, thereby widening it out to permit the hook tospring open and catch against an internal shoulder.

I have found it unnecessary in general practice to shoulder the slot, asthe tendency of the hook I) to expand is sui'licient to cause its freeend to embed itself more or less in the soft-metal wall of the slot andform its own shoulder to hold it temporarily in position while the pressis being applied.

The hook I) at the opposite end of the wire is cast in the metal disk,and both branches lie in the plane of the slot (1, preferably one branchupon one side of the slot and the other branch upon the opposite side ofthe slot and the bottom of the hook below the bottom of the slot. Thisarrangement brings the four parts of the two hooks I; into the sameplane edgewise of the disk when the hook I) is inserted, as shown inFig. 3, so that when the disk is pressed to permanently lock the ends ofthe bail therein it will press the opposite sides equally withoutdisturbing the impression, and a sufficient thickness of wall may beleft upon opposite sides of the several hooks even though a lessquantity of soft metal be employed in the disk than where any two ormore parts of the two hooks embedded in the disk are permitted to crossone another.

The particular structure of disk preferred is that in which theperiphery is wedge-shaped,

v coming to an edge at the middle and provided Wish to limit myselfstrictly to the structure herein set forth; but

NVhat I claim is- A seal comprising a Wire bail and a softmetal disk,the said disk being provided with a slot havingits Walls uninterruptedby a shoulder or shoulders, and the. bail having its ends hook-shaped,one embedded permanently in the disk with the parts of the hook onopposite sides of the said slot and the other having the parts of thehook normally spread open wider than the width of the slot and adaptedto be forced into the slot, the several parts of the hooked ends restingWhen in locked position in the same plane centrally of the disk,substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two Witnesses, this 27th day of -March, 1900.

ALBERT B. SCHOFIELD.

